If you are anything like me, when you hear the words “life coach” escape someone’s mouth, you imagine someone with the vocal capacity of a 50-pound amp and the ferocity to back it up. For many people, it’s hard to stomach the idea that life is like a game that should be played with all the strategy and tenacity of a championship tennis match. Personally, I can do without all of the hype and tensely issued words of direction. I’m trying to decrease the pressure I feel, not add to it. Actually, that conception of what a personal life coach does is perhaps a bit too harsh. Granted, life coaches do offer direction on how to deal with life’s complications, but to assume that they simply shout orders interspersed with expletives like a military general is unrealistic. The true goal of a life coach is to be a form of support and encouragement while individuals explore the solutions to life’s everyday challenges themselves.

Differences between life coaching and therapy are most evident in the role and actions of the professional offering support. According to Businessballs.com, a professional business advice website, the coach does not claim to have an answer to any of the individual’s problems. Instead, he or she guides the clients to realizations of their own based on two-way exploration. Rather than spend time revisiting past experiences or imposing their own beliefs and values, coaches maintain a positive attitude and motivate clients to develop positive changes in many different life areas.

Life coaching has grown substantially diverse over the past decade. There are now many types of coaches that people look for based on their unique needs.

A personal life coach focuses on changes at home and in personal development, while a professional life coach focuses on work place health and career goals. A spiritual life coach helps guide others in their search for a higher power, meaning and purpose in their lives.

The role of a certified life coach is to provide an approach that focuses on developing solutions rather than staying preoccupied with problems. Coaches and clients work together to set up goals and implement various ways of achieving them, such as weight management and balanced relationships. The intent of such work is to gain a sense of well-being and overall improvement in the individual’s way of life.

Aspects central to life coaching are positive change and the process of transformation. The coach encourages the individual to alter certain negative behaviors, even though the process is difficult. It is human nature to cringe at the prospect of changing our old routines and bad habits. But with the understanding that constructive change brings about a positive future, we can transform our lives with the support of a life coach.

Suzanne Skiffington, doctor of psychology and contributing author to The Complete Guide to Coaching at Work, mentions four major goals of a personal life coach:

1. Encourage the individual to put forth her best effort and develop that further

2. Motivate the individual to focus on the future and to constantly be aware of the opportunity for development

3. Provide support while helping the client manage both personal and professional lives

4. Process any limiting or debilitating beliefs and work through those problems

By identifying these goals and implementing them into your life, you can reap the rewards of life coaching. Each meeting with a life coach will offer different benefits, depending on the focus at that particular time. Results vary from person to person, but most are applicable to the general population. Some of the benefits gained from a personal life coach include, but are certainly not limited to, the following:

* An acute awareness of new opportunities

* A sense of greater self-knowledge

* More organization and the ability to focus actions and energy

* Openness to the creative universe

* An increase in self-esteem and self-confidence

* More enjoyment out of life

* A sense of well-being and ease

* Effective problem solving and greater productivity

* Learning to access a wider range of beliefs

* Boundary-setting skills and the capability to stay true to those boundaries

* Self-reliance and the ability to make personal life decisions

Though the majority of life coaches tend to focus on the development and attainment of specific goals, there is often an overall improvement in the individual’s total sense of well-being. With the empowerment of the life coach, many clients find that it is easier to devise a goal and execute a plan of action to reach it. While working with a personal coach, many find that they have an improved quality of life and are usually in a more balanced state of mental health. The work that the individual puts forth usually affects a vast area of experiences rather than just one dominant area. The insight that a person usually gains under the guidance of a life coach can be applied to every aspect of his or her life.

Many people believe that only celebrities, famous athletes and “successful” people in prestigious industries use personal life coaches, but this is a common misconception. While it is true that the most well-known types of coaches are usually sports coaches and performance coaches for actors, singers, writers, models, and dancers, there is also a large development of new life coaches in the areas of business, education, marriage, and family relationships. Even addiction recovery uses life coaches.

Entrepreneurs in various business arenas like law and medical, use life coaches to better themselves and their occupational skills. They learn to improve their careers using new strategies and skills that they adapted from working closely with their life coaches. Students employ the services of a coach to help them build study skills and lay out action plans for their educations. For college students especially, coaching can be highly useful in helping the student stay on track in the face of common campus distractions like parties and excessive socializing.

Addicts may also seek out life coaches to help them deal with withdrawal and learn new ways of coping with obstacles and stressors that trigger their addictive behaviors. Developing spirituality and learning to lean on their beliefs in a higher power is often what motivates such individuals to remain sober. An increase in spiritual awareness allows the newly-sober individual to become more self-reliant, rather than drug or alcohol-reliant.

Armed with the knowledge that anyone and everyone can potentially benefit from using a personal life coach, now is the time to seek one out. Life coach searches are no different than finding the proper match for a family doctor, dentist or other medical provider, and it may take a few misses to find a certified life coach with whom you connect.

Coachtrainingalliance.com recommends looking for some typical qualifications when first seeking out a life coach. Ask yourself these important questions about the life coach you find to determine if he is a good fit:

* Is he motivated to help individuals improve their lives?

* Does she possess objective listening skills that provide enough support and attention to individual needs?

* Does he have honesty and integrity when working with the client and a willingness to do the very best possible?

* Is she or she able to acknowledge strengths and motivate me to develop those strengths?

* Is my life coach intuitive and curious regarding the circumstances that I seem to be facing?

* Is my life coach balanced and empathetic, with the ability to hold appropriate boundaries?

Find life coach resources easily by searching online for accredited personnel. You may also seek references through your therapist or primary healthcare provider. Some people find that friends with whom they have a powerful rapport can be helpful, albeit more informal, life coaches. Carl Jung once said, “The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.” So once you have found a life coach that you feel comfortable with and can relate to, lean into the experience and embrace the chance to uncover a new, transformed, successful life.

Are you living your life to the fullest?

James Dean once said, "Dream as if you'll live forever, live as if you'll die today." Do you take time to pursue your passions or are you a slave to the daily grind? Find out if you need a new lease on life with this quiz.